Apparatus for continuous wire drawing



Aug. 9, 1938. H. K. BEACH APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS WIRE DRAWING Filed March 9, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet l lrlrllllllllllllllllrhw Rm mw NB f E WK M W5 H Aug. 9, 1938. H. K. BEACH 2,126,528

APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS WIRE DRAWING Filed March 9, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 9, 1938. H. K. BEACH 2,126,528

APPARATUS FOR CGNTINUOUS WIRE DRAWING Filed March 9, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVi-:NTGR Haro/d K. .Beach Augga, 1938.

H. K/BEAClf Y 2,126,528 APPARATUS .FOR CONTIUOUS `WI DRAWING Fiiedrmaroh 9, 1957 4 sheets-sheet 4 INVENTOR Haro/d KuBeac WNF:

Patented ug. il, 1938` i v i v I lmuri-:D 'STATES PATENT OFFICE N APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS WIRE DRAWIN Harold K. Beach, Cranford, N. J., assignor to Phelps Dodge Copper Products Corporation, New York,v N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 9, 1937, Serial No. 129,799 2 Claims. (Cl. 242-40) My invention relates to the drawing and the the tangling of the coil unless an operator is coiling of wire, more particularly to a device constantly arranging the strands of wire as they which provides a means for the easy removal of are' laid on the block, due to the wire being a finished coil of wire without the necessity of pushed along a stationary horizontal block by 5 interrupting the progress of the wire or the stopthe pressure of the strand of wire against the 5 ping of the wire drawing machine, thereby saving llet ofthe block. the time so st to production, My device is mechanically suitable for opera- In the usual method of drawing wire, it is tion at the highest practical speed of drawing;

necessary to stop the wire drawing block to permit Permits the use of guide pulleys large enough l0 the removal ofthe nished coil of wire, causing to avoid injury to the physical characteristics l0 an interruption in the production, for the time of the wire, and is not subject t0 U21-Heling. required for this removal. At the modern speeds 4 The foregoing and other features of my in- Of wire drawing, this 105s 0f time wi11 amount 130 vention will now be described in connection with fifty per cent or more of the total operating time the aeeemilallyillg fOul Sheets OfidraWrleS form- 'for medium and coarse gages of wire drawing* ing part of this specication in which I have 15 There is also a, definite' limit to the weight of represented my device in its preferred form, after the finished coil that may be drawn and the which I shall point out in the claims those feaspeed ef drawing, the WeightJ being limited by tures which I believe to be new and of my own the capacity of the block, the'speed being limited invention.

by the tangling of the wire due to centrifugal In Jthe drawingsr- I 20 force at the upper part 0f the coil, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device, with One of the objects of this invention is to prothe drive and drawing head 0f a Wire drawing duce a device that will eliminate these delays machine shown in dotted lines on the right side so that the wire drawing may be uninterrupted. 0f the figurey A further object of my invention is toproduce Figure 2 is'a side elevation at right angles to 25 a device that will be able to coil wire in any that shown in Figure 1. commercial sizes at a speed limited only by the Figure 3 iS 2' plan View ShOWiug the arrangeeharacteristics of the metal being drawn andA ment of my coil carriers and their relative move by thedurability of the drawing dies and also ment.

to provide means to procure coils of any desired Figure 4 iS an elevation of Aa coil carrier in 30 weight. modified form.

My invention comprises a'plurality of coilers `Figure 5 iS an enlarged detailed section along of the laying type, a shear, and means for dthe iille 5 5, Figure 2. recting the strand of wire into the shear and Figure 6 iS er1 enlarged detailed Section 310mg simultaneously transferring this wire from one the line 66.Figure l. i 35 coller to another without interrupting the prog- Figure 7 is a detail of a revolution counter ress of the drawn wire. I may use in combina- Which I may employ. tion with the above, a set of pinch rolls for main- Figure 8 1S a Dart Section of my transfer device taining tension on the wire coming off the draw- .2101152 the line 88, Figure 6. I

40 lng block and to feed the end of the wire, after In the carrying out of my invention I utilize 40 the wire has been severed by the shear, into the e eepstan Il of any commercial wire drawing geiler-S, machine l2 having a power shaft I3 and clutch I am aware vthat wire machines have been I4 by means of which the capstan Il may be operated with a continuous wire drawing head in Stopped 01` IeVOIl/ed et Will.

which the wire was laid on a stationary auxiliary The nished drawn wire 20 is led around guide 45 blockby means of a rotating arm. The prin` pulleys 2l22 of large diameters into a comciple of continuous heads of this type is such bined feed, shear and transfer devicecontained that they require mechanical construction that in the housing 23 and thence through the guide is inherently not suitable for drawing at modern pipes 24 or 25 into their corresponding laying speeds of wire drawing, and in addition, if the e0i1er`34 or 35. 5o machine is made of practical dimensions at the The mechanism in the housing 23` and the speed required, the wire is subjected to bends coilerse3ll35 are all driven synchronously with around small pulleys, injuring the physical charthe Wire drawing block Il by means of the belts acteristics of the wire, V and pulleys 40, 4I, 42, 43, 44, 45, as shown, or

With that device there is constant liability of I may use an alternating current generator f not 55 shown) which may be connected to the drive shaft I3 and having individual synchronous motors driving each of the separate shafts, the motors being operated from the generated source of power.

The coilers 3 4-35 are of the laying type and although the application to the art of drawing wire is new, they are well known to the art of rolling rods, so they require no further description here. Suflicient to say that the'se coilers with their flying arms lay the wire into suitable receptacles for the coil of finished wire, the form of these receptacles being adapted to the requirements for the subsequent handling of the wire.

If the wire is not subjected to further processing and is to be shipped in coils, I provide receptacles comprising an assembly of pins 44-45 arranged in two circles as shown in Figures 2 and 3 upon a spider 46-41. I shall preferably set under each coiler two of these spiders mounted on a rotating member 48 so that the finished coil of wire may be tied up and removed from the full spider while the empty spider is receiving the wire from the continuously rotating coiler'. 'I'hese spiders rotate on centers 49 and are held from rotating while receiving the wire from the coiler by a suitable lock 50. The rotating member 5I is held in place by lock 52; These locks may be released by foot treadles 53-54 and are held in engagements by the springs 55 and 56 respectively.

It may be convenient or desirable in some instances to tip the spiders 41 so I provide a pivot l1 and locking means 58. Upon release of the latch 5I the spider will swing to a plane at right angles to its original .position and from.

there the coil of wire may be removed by the hook GII provided for the purpose, operated by the crane 8 I.

If the wire is subject to further processing, I may use removable spiders 9| set on a rotating .spider 48 provided with suitable means of locking into position 50, all as detailed in Figure 4. The wire may be taken through any subsequent steps of manufacture, such as annealing-on these removable spiders, and they will then act as take-oil' spiders for the drawing operation which may follow.

The housing 23 contains pinch rolls 1I suitably grooved for the gage of wire being drawn which are' held together by compression springs 12. While I have indicated rubber blocks, these springs may be made of coil wire. I provide a guide 1I to aid the wire 20 to enter the wire groove in the pinch rolls 1I. 1I, I provide rolls 14 mounted to revolve at a distance apart to accommodate free movement of the wire so that the wire may pass freely between the rolls. These rollers have a smooth periphery and carry in the middle of their faces shear knives 15. I may employ an anvil shear or its equivalent in the same location and do not wish to be limited to the shearing means.

Between the pinch rolls 1I and the rotating shear 14 I provide a movable guide 15 which is mounted to swing across the face of the rotating shear by means of the solenoids I1-18 or the equivalent mechanism. These solenoids may be operated manually by closing an electric switch or I may automatically actuate them by an electric switch 1l operated by a counter mechanism Il driven by the revolving pinch rolls 1I. so that the solenoids operate to move the Below these rolls energized and the transfer device is set in operation. The Wheel A19 is preferably made of mica with a metallic inset as shown.

When the guide 16 is in the position shown in full lines, it directs the wire into guide pipe 24 leading to its coiler 34; when inthe position -shown in dotted lines it directs the wire into guide pipe 25 leading to its coiler 35. In its movement from one coiler to the other the wire is passed between the shear knives 15. The Width of the knives' and the speed of travel of the guide are so adjusted to the speed of the Wire that contact'of the wire with the knives will occur only once in one revolution of the rolls of the rotating shear.

The pinch rolls are driven through the revolving pulley 45 which is mounted on shaft 62 on which is mounted the gear 63 meshing with gear 64 mounted on shaft 65 with the pinch roll 1I. 51 carrying the cutting mechanism14.

The pinch rolls and rotating shear are driven at synchronous speeds through suitable gear, the entire mechanism being driven from a shaft either mechanically as shown from the wire drawing power line I3 or by a synchronous motor. I prefer to drive through slip friction 80 with the driving pulley at a speed slightly above the synchronous speed as an insurance against slackness in the wire.

I wish it distinctly understood that my apparatus for continuously drawing wire herein described and illustrated is in the form in which I desire to construct it and that changes or variations may be made as may be convenient or desirable without departing from the salient fea- The gear 63 also drives gear 6E on the shaft tures of my invention and I. therefore intend the `coiler to the other without interruption of the progress of the wire, comprising shear knives continuously rotating at the peripheral speed substantially equal to the speed of the Wire, means for transferring the wire from onecoiler to the other and across the path of the shear.

2. An apparatus for continuously forming wire into coils, comprising in combination, means for supplying wire, a plurality of laying coilers,

means interposed between the wire supply means and the coilers for transferring the wire from one coiler to the other 'without interruption of the progress of the wire, comprising shear knives continuously rotating with a peripheral speed substantially the same as the speed ofthe wire, a guide normally inoperative'but capable of moving in a path parallel to the shear knives so that i the wire is severed in its passage between the shear and while passing .from one coiler to the other.

HAROLD K. BEACH. 

